Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) helped lead a bipartisan, bicameral letter alongside Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-IL) and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Roy Blunt (R-MO) calling for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize funding for construction of the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) on the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). This $2.5 billion in funding was originally authorized for inland waterways in the the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). NESP would expand and modernize congested lock and dam locations that our economy relies on along the UMRS and provide funding for ecosystem restoration.
“The regional and national economic benefits of NESP are significant, which is why the project was included in the December 2020 Inland and Intracoastal Waterways Twenty-Year Capital Investment Strategy (CIS) developed by the Corps and the Inland Waterways User Board (IWUB),”the lawmakers wrote. “Following the 2020 CIS including NESP construction will bring immediate financial and environmental benefits throughout the system that will reverberate through the economy.”
Background
- These locks and dams must be improved to support supply chain movement in and out of Iowa's First Congressional District.
- NESP locks must be addressed in order for the locks along Northeast Iowa and our own district boundary to be given the attention they need.
Original source can be found here
